SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE OF OUR PLACE IN DIVINE PURPOSE

Acts 19: 1–10; 20: 25–27; Ephesians 1: 1–14; 2: 17, 18; 3: 14–21

RG I wondered, dear brethren, if we could look a little at, and help one another with the place in purpose that God has always had in mind for us. We are getting near the end of the dispensation, and what God has in mind for us will soon be a reality in its fulness. In the meantime we should be consciously experiencing something of what He has had in His mind for our blessing; the fulness of it, the extent of it, the depth of it and the height of it. In order to reach that, there is a road to it, which we might call the moral road.

That is why I read from chapter 19 of the Acts, because it is the same persons in that chapter that the apostle is writing to in his epistle, and it is wonderful to see growth, spiritual growth in persons, laid out for us. The Lord might ask us, and we might ask ourselves, where we are on this walk from Acts 19 to the epistle to the Ephesians. The men in Acts 19 did not know if the Holy Spirit had come—now that was a tremendous disadvantage. When you come to the epistle to the Ephesians the Spirit is spoken about in every chapter and the first three chapters demonstrate the way of the Spirit in leading us into the purpose of God. In chapter 19 they had not heard whether the Spirit had come. The apostle says to them, “To what then were ye baptised?” And they said, “To the baptism of John”. (Good as far as it went, you might say.)

“And Paul said, John indeed baptised with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him that was coming after him, that is, on Jesus. And when they heard that, they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus”. Then the Spirit came upon them. They were adjustable persons, and that is the first thing, I think, that is the hallmark of an Ephesian, he is easily adjusted. Further in the chapter, when there is opposition, we find that Paul separates them. “He left them and separated disciples”. That is the second thing. If you are to be an Ephesian you have to be a separated person, separated from all the dogma and what went on in the synagogues. But when you are separated you find yourself in the school of Tyrannus; now you are teachable, that is the third thing. So, you are an adjustable, a separable and a teachable people. In chapter 20, Paul says, “I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God”. This was some time before we come to the epistle, which he wrote while in prison in Rome.

Now in the epistle to the Ephesians he reminds them that for the conscious enjoyment of the whole counsel of God they have to allow the Spirit to have His way with them. The link with Acts 19 and the first chapter of the epistle is verse 13, “in whom ye also have trusted, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance … “. In chapter 2 he points out that they were all one, they were unified; Jew and Gentile both reconciled in one body to God, and in that unified position he can say, “we have both access by one Spirit to the Father”. In chapter 3, he continues with the greatness of all we are brought into; God’s purpose; but he says that he prays that they might be “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”. Then there is glory to God in the assembly. In chapter 1 of Ephesians God is coming out; in chapter 2 we are going in. God comes out first of all as God and then as Father. We go in to the Father and then to God—glory to God in the assembly.

DTP You have set it out very fully for us and it is something that older ones know, but it is a realm that needs to be explored. As you lay hold of the wonder of what it is, to be taken into favour in the Beloved, it is the outflowing of divine grace that affects the soul and makes us desire to know more, and we need the Spirit’s help for that, do we not? It is the only way we grow.

RG Yes, that is good. I am sure we have all been impressed recently with the way that the Lord has been directing us, in many readings, to the place of the Spirit. I can remember, not very long ago, when a brother spoke about the need to know whether we have the Spirit or not. Now these men did not even know He had come; there is no excuse for ignorance of this kind today, beloved. You are sitting with persons around you who have the Holy Spirit, and the evidence of it is in the way that they love the Lord, knowing that they have been taken into favour in the Beloved. They love the saints, and they are with the saints, ready to proceed in the power of the Spirit, under the leading of the Lord, into the presence of God Himself.

DTP I was thinking of the Ethiopian eunuch. He came to things quickly, and he realised that baptism was a necessity to really touch the wonders of what had been spoken to him in the scriptures. The Spirit is the help that goes forward with him, do you think, as he goes forth rejoicing?

RG I think so. It says here that they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus. What power there is there; baptised to, it is not baptised in as we have often been taught. Baptised to; the power of that glorified One, the name of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus; the name that the assembly appreciates; no one can say Lord Jesus without the Spirit. So, as they are baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus, the Spirit comes upon them.

JDG Perhaps you could say when the Spirit came, and what is the significance of Paul laying his hands upon them and the Holy Spirit coming upon them.

RG I thought about that, obviously we have to think back to the beginning of the Acts. We think of the powerful way in which the Spirit came there; filled the room where they were sitting; that heavy breathing; what power there was as the Spirit came in. But here, I think, the Spirit is operating on His own behalf in relation to persons who are adjustable. You might say it is a more limited area, twelve men, but it is the same Spirit.

JDG The Spirit does not come twice from heaven, but He is passed on through contact with believers, is that what you understand?

RG Yes. He came once from heaven in that powerful breathing, but here, “And Paul having laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them”. It would seem that our minds have to be directed towards the fact that it was the Holy Spirit that came upon them.

JDG Yes, but it is Christ who is the minister of the Spirit, even in this setting.

RG Yes, so they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus.

RT Do we need to see that it is not only immersion and removal, but it is a merging into a new personality?

RG Yes, that is good, go on.

RT That was the defect, was it not; there was remission, but there was no new personality brought before the soul; they were baptised to a Person, a risen, glorified Man.

RG Yes, and therefore their whole outlook, you might say, was different now. Their outlook before, as they were baptised for remission of sins, was limited to what they had been baptised from; but now there is a whole expanse being opened up to them as they are baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus.

RT It has come from Jesus glorified.

RG Yes, and all that the Lord has under His hand there where He is, as glorified, is available to us, and it is available by the Spirit.

GBG Paul does not say baptised to the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. It shows the importance of this, baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus.

RG I think so, and while baptism to the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, is also baptising to the power that is contained within the greatness of that Name, this is now baptised to the Person—the Lord Jesus.

GBG So it is bringing in a distinction in the superiority of Christ, the Lord Jesus, to John, the baptist, is that right?

RG Yes, and I would like to say at this point that we are not being derogatory to John in what we are saying. John, in his movements, was pointing to Jesus. “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1: 36), and it is an interesting thing that two disciples were adjustable right at that point. In Acts 19 it appears that the baptism of John relieved these men of the kind of man that would not be adjustable, and now as adjustable they come into the benefit of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

CKR Ephesians 3 (I know you are finishing with that) but the Father’s Spirit in the inner man must also bring out the importance of the indwelling Spirit. So the Spirit is received in the believer; it is the inner being of the believer that is now going to be moved in capacity, and empowered for everything on the other side of death.

RG That is good. I go over it often myself, that when the Lord was here and spoke about the Spirit He says, “but ye know him, for he abides with you, and shall be in you”, John 14: 17. The Spirit was with them in Christ, in the Lord Jesus while there, and then He says, “and shall be in you”. This is what we are reaching here; “shall be in you” is evidenced in this section.

CKR This would become a very important part of the preaching of the gospel that includes the gift of the Holy Spirit, in view of souls being developed along the line you have in these chapters.

RG That is right, so that I think when you come to the preaching of Paul’s gospel you cannot leave that out; because you are preaching it from the highest level.

MG Is it important then to realise that the only power for the testimony to proceed fully is in the power of the Holy Spirit?

RG I think that is right. When the Spirit and the bride say “Come”, the Spirit will go with the saints. Now, if that is the case, how important it is that we realise the place of the Spirit while we are left here, in strengthening us with power for what the Lord will actually lead us into when He comes for us.

RT He says to the woman in John 4, “shall become in him”. Does that connect with the moral road you are speaking of?

RG Yes, “shall become in him”. There was a process that was started as he spoke to the woman at the well. That well produced nothing for her, but He is introducing her, you might say, as He leads her along the moral road, to the Holy Spirit who would be in her a fountain of water springing up into eternal life. That fountain will not be stopped.

RT You are saying about being on a moral road; baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus would stimulate our affections; is that what makes room for the Holy Spirit?

RG That is right; so that baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus is to the One that has been here; He has dealt with every moral matter. No matter what our sins have been, He has dealt with it all. But now, raised by the glory of the Father, He is at God’s right hand, and He has dispensed the Spirit to us so that the moral road and our repentance continues. While we are conscious of our sins, they do not inhibit us, because the Lord Jesus is on the other side of death, and we go with Him in the power of the Spirit.

JCG They are baptising to the name of the Lord Jesus. Do you think there is a suggestion that persons are now going to be brought together in relation to what the assembly is? The idea that they were twelve might be restrictive in some sense, but it points to the assembly, and points to persons being fused together, does it not?

RG These were twelve men, they were not twelve children. Twelve is the number that can be divided in so many ways. There was love in evidence. The Spirit operating in them demonstrated unity and it was the unity of love.

GAB Earlier on they are referred to as “certain disciples” but the twelve seems to consolidate things. Earlier on in the book we know that eleven was not enough, it had to be made up to the twelve, so there is something that is really workable in a substantial way.

RG I think that is good. Do you not think that the fact that it says twelve men would mean that they are like the boards of the tabernacle? They are interchangeable. These twelve men would all be like the Lord Jesus to whose name they had been baptised. So that in the working out of matters in love they could be any two, any three, any four.

GCMcK With reference to times, you were speaking of our progress practically in these things. It comes into Acts a bit; in Antioch a whole year; here there is three months, and then there is two years, and in chapters 20 it says three years. Is there some meaning in that, that we do not just come into these things immediately, but there has to be a moral and spiritual process, do you think?

RG It is good to bring that in because in actual fact, as you say, you do not jump into it immediately, but that does not mean to say that it should take fifty years. There is no excuse for us being children in that sense when we are fifty years old; but, on the other hand, the length of the moral road is dependent on us giving ourselves to the Spirit that is taking us along that road. It is the way of the Lord, and the way of the Lord involves the presence of the Spirit, so that at each landmark on that way there is an answer in us.

GCMcK So we are greatly blessed in the course of instruction there is in our local readings and in our local meetings. As fully committed to this line of things, and as set in regard to these meetings, the end has to be spiritual progress. We should see that in our localities, definite growth, do you think?

RG That is right. And I think that takes us on to where it says “he ... separated the disciples”, where we find the two year period in the school of Tyrannus. There was teaching going on there and it was not laissez-faire.

JS Do you think the three months when they were occupied with the kingdom of God would provide a good foundation for what as to follow? Do you think it made room for the Spirit to bring that kind of teaching into their souls?

RG I wondered that, if really the kingdom of God involves the presence of the Spirit. What would you say about that?

JS The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14: 17).

RG Yes, so that they had been taught that; the kingdom of heaven relates to where the Lord is in His supremacy. But the kingdom of God is where the Spirit of God is down here, and we come into the recognition of being subject to the King by the Spirit.

JS I think so. Would coming into the kingdom rightly involve the place we give to the Spirit in relation to this kind of teaching? It was after they had received the Spirit that the kingdom of God is mentioned.

RG That is right; so that there is a certain progression. There is the receipt of the Holy Spirit, there is the kingdom of God, there is separation and then there is the ability to be taught. They are in a sterile area where they can be taught. I wondered if the school of Tyrannus linked with Paul having passed through the upper districts. When Paul came through the upper districts he came through purified air, as it were. When he got into the school of Tyrannus I think there was purity there too.

JDG You have to be separated from ecclesiastical error before the truth of the assembly can be developed.

RG Yes, so that the assembly has no connection in that sense with anything that is of the old order, because the old order has developed into ecclesiastical error.

JDG It is not the world as such here, it is the ecclesiastical world, and that is where danger exists as much as in the secular world.

RG Yes, and more dangerous in many ways, because the world we normally speak about is characterised by violence and corruption easily identifiable by any man, but then when we come to this other area it needs the Spirit of God to identify these things for us, and then to give us the power to be able to separate from them.

JCG Do you think that separating the disciples involves that he saw there was something rich and potential there in the work of God and what the Spirit had produced, ready for further development; and it was really a place of salvation? I was thinking of Nehemiah building the wall; it was not just to keep out the enemies but to preserve what was within the city in relation to the worship of God.

RG That is good. So that the preservation of what is within leads to advancement in our knowledge of the Lord. They were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus and when that happened they would be wanting to become more like Him.

JAB You mentioned at the beginning as to how these men were adjustable and then teachable, but are these two thoughts very close to one another; the willingness to take on teaching implies adjustability on my part. Would you say more about that please because I feel it is very important; it involves a recognition of who the teacher is, the Lord Jesus himself. But then, a willingness on my part to set aside what my thoughts might have been about some of this to listen to Him or to someone through whom His word is coming.

RG It seems to me that in the synagogues where they had been for these few months they would be exposed from time to time to persons who were insubject to the Lord, and these persons were bringing their own minds to bear on what they were applying the Lord’s name to. But now, as separated from that, they are adjustable persons who are subject persons; subject persons are teachable persons. If I am holding on to my own ideas I am not teachable because I cannot see beyond my own ideas. What would you say?

JAB I think that is very important, so what would help us to be teachable then? What would motivate us to want to take on this instruction which may not be according to what we had thought?

RG I think the word that comes to me when you ask that question is, “Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God; considering the issue of their conversation, imitate their faith”, Hebrews 13: 7. Then immediately it says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come”. He introduces the name of Jesus Christ. I think that all of us have come under persons who were themselves subject, and had the ability, through their subjection, to teach us. Imitating their faith was their faith which was in the One who was the Lord and Teacher.

TDB Earlier in the book in relation to Cornelius there was a good moral state, a company ready to receive teaching.

RG Yes, and l think that if there is to be any advancement with us there has to be a subject state that makes way for the Holy Spirit.

JSp I was just thinking that a lot of Paul’s service took place in the household setting, from house to house. Three years I think it was; I was just wondering if that augments assembly teaching when we gather together frequently in houses and speak over things. Would that not help to bring in adjustment and teaching?

RG Yes, and you are raising quite a practical point. I have always felt that it is very wonderful and enjoyable to be in the houses of the saints; but if I come away and there has been no introduction of something that belongs to the Lord and the Lord’s mind for us, at the present stage of the testimony, I feel deprived somehow. So, I think what you say is right, that Paul when he went into the houses, would be ready just to link on where they were and dispense something that came in the power of the Spirit. That was handed down to Aquila and Priscilla, because in Acts 18 there is Apollos and they took him to them. Not to the back of the hall, it would be to their house where they showed him the way of God more exactly. It is a good thought.

MC It says there “reasoning and persuading”. These are good features for conversation together in a homely way.

RG That is right.

CKR So you are anxious that we reach the purpose of God. Paul would introduce the purpose of God; Paul would lead in the teaching in the period you are referring to daily in the school of Tyrannus. He would begin to broaden their minds, would he not, that there is something beyond the sphere that perhaps they had been occupied with before? There was a heavenly inheritance and a heavenly truth that he longed to bring out, and chose Ephesus to develop it over three years.

RG Yes, and that is the link with Acts 20, “I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God”. There is not very much difference between purpose and counsel so that if he is announcing the whole counsel of God it is on the basis of the purpose of God being made known to us and experienced by us.

CKR You have the preaching of the kingdom, and you have also the glad tidings of the grace of God, and that all develops to the counsel of God and the assembly of God. So you can see there is an up-line in all the teaching which is in order to reach the heavenly inheritance, which Paul longs to leave as his legacy amongst the people of God.

RG Yes. We now move to Ephesians 1. What made me think of this just now was our brother saying we were on the up-line. I think we have reached the destination in a sense when we get to the epistle. He says, you remember how “I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God”, now I am going to write it down for you. I am writing it down with a purpose, and that is that you do not only understand it, but that you might by the Spirit have the eyes of your hearts opened to be able to experience what I am speaking about.

RT The epistle to the Ephesians was not the height of Paul’s ministry; we always think it is; it was the saints in Ephesus who were the height and expression of his ministry.

RG That is good. So there were persons there that could be identified, and that is what the Lord is trying to secure now. He wants all of us, from the youngest to the oldest. Why I started in Acts 19 was I thought of the many young people here, and also those of us who are older possibly needing a reminder that there is this moral way. What an example Paul himself was.

DCB He addresses the saints and faithful. Even in Corinth you could refer to them as called saints, but here persons who were faithful in maintaining what was equivalent to the calling.

RG I think so. When Paul was writing this he was in prison. He was probably alone and bound by a chain, but how expansive were his thoughts as he thought of how he could enter into the experiences of the saints. He writes to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus, in that Man who has secured all for our enjoyment.

DTP He was maybe bound, but he was free in his spirit and the fulness of it flows out here; and his desire is that all should come into that enjoyment, “Grace to you and peace”. These are the things that settle us and make us substantial in what we have been brought into.

RG “Grace to you and peace” always reminds me of the Lord when He said, “I give my peace to you”, John 14: 27. It is that character of peace, a settling character of peace; so that as he opens up the truth he is opening it up in these settled conditions.

GCMcK Is it remarkable then that while there is very precious doctrine in Ephesians, Paul does not set it out in a doctrinal way, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. He is in the spirit of doxology as he speaks of these things. The way he finished, of course, in Ephesians 3 was with a doxology. I think that supports what you are saying; your thought in this reading is that we come into the enjoyment of the thing so that it is springing up in our hearts.

RG That is right, and “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”. Now, that is God towards us, that is men who have experienced something of that. Is that what you think?

GCMcK This precious truth is so great that we really need the Spirit in a special way to take in Ephesian truth; the upper springs, is it? We need special divine help by the Spirit to lay hold of them and enjoy them.

RG Yes. He says, “with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the earnest of our inheritance”. He is the Spirit at that level, who is the Earnest of our inheritance.

JDG That conveys that he brings us into the enjoyment of the things now.

RG That is what I think, verse 3 is God coming out. He says, that is what God has done. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (he says us you will notice), he does not say you, he says us. He is viewing the Ephesian saints at the same level as himself.

JCG The Spirit is making sure that progress can be made—“according to the riches of his grace; which he has caused to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence”, that would involve not only the greatness of the work of the Spirit expanding the saints in experiencing enjoyment of Christ and the Father, but wisdom and intelligence would be something further. Is that a development?

RG I think so because then he goes on, “having made known to us the mystery of his will”. The mystery of His will is not made known to anybody; it was not made known to those persons in the synagogue that they had to separate from. It is made known to persons who have come into the gain of these first few verses.

JS I was just thinking of this matter of the counsel of God, what this means, it is really related to things that God had in His heart and mind before the foundation of the world. It is not exactly related to things that come into our histories, it is the thoughts that God had in mind before that.

RG That is right and my own simple way of thinking about it has been that the purpose of God is like a man who decides to build a mansion—that is his purpose; but then he has to consider, and consider with others what he wants in that mansion; that is his counsel. The counsel of God involved the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit considering how the purpose of God would be made known.

JS It speaks about working things out according to the counsel of His own will. Does that bring out the point you are making?

RG Yes, I think that is right. Counsel is the demonstration of the grandeur of all that has been purposed.

JS Had you something more in mind about the mystery of His will?

RG It takes us right into the very centre of God’s thoughts; the mystery of His will beyond that which human tongue can tell. That is why it is so necessary for us to have the Holy Spirit of promise who is the Earnest of our inheritance. The Earnest of our inheritance means the essence of it is to be enjoyed by us, and that is what we understand and experience of the mystery of His will.

RT It says He has revealed them to us by His Spirit, things of purpose, He has revealed them to us by His Spirit. It brings us back to what you were saying earlier about our links with the Holy Spirit.

RG Yes, so that the revelation is something that is private; revealed to us, but in contrast to declaration, which is public. The Lord says to Peter, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father. Revelation is a private personal matter.

RT It comes through the divine channel. I was thinking of what you were saying about “blessed us with every spiritual blessing” and “holy and blameless”, that is only by the Spirit, is it not, and the liberty that the Spirit has with me, and I with Him?

RG That is right, and then he comes to verse 5, “having marked us out beforehand for adoption”—that is the Father; he refers us back to verse 3, “Blessed be the God and Father”. Verse 4 is that we might be holy and blameless before that God, in love, which is His nature. Then he says, “having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will”. Now we are in relationship with the Father; how wonderful these things are!

CKR So you are going to get touches as to Christ; touches as to redemption, touches as to the riches of His grace; heading up all things in the Christ. Your whole soul is expanding as by the power of the Spirit you feel the scope of this inheritance that God has in mind, and the delight it is for God that the saints are coming into the enjoyment and intelligence of it.

RG Yes, and the Spirit of promise is the Earnest of our inheritance to the redemption of the acquired possession. Now, the acquired possession is all this that is being opened up for us. But then he says, “to the redemption of the acquired possession to the praise of his glory”. There is to be an answer. As we move on to chapter 2 we see something further of what the purpose of God has in mind for us. It says in verses 5 and 6, “has quickened us with the Christ ... and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”, (Ephesians 2: 5, 6) something more of the purpose of God, and we are restful in it. We have spoken about peace and now we are in restful conditions. When he comes to verse 11, he says to them that this is the position into which persons who were “once nations in the flesh” have been brought. He says not only are the Jews that Peter spoke to in the early chapters of the Acts brought into this, but you Gentiles are brought into this too. God has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

JS It is to be known at the present time, “has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together”. We really need the Spirit to appreciate the heavenly position we have been brought into.

RG I am glad you say that—because this section of this chapter is where he is viewing the saints as in testimony. That means as we are now. There is the spiritual inside position that is being opened up to them, and I wondered if “has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together” is what we get some enjoyment of at the Supper. What do you think?

JS I think we do. It is a great spiritual matter that becomes a reality to us as we give place to the Spirit.

RG What he is saying here is that it does not matter what kind of person you have been, this is the kind of person you are; holy and blameless before Him in love, marked out for adoption, taken into favour in the Beloved. All these things we have been speaking about in Ephesians 1 are characteristic of you, if they are, and you can sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

GBG It has been pointed out that this is not resurrection, this is elevation; so it is helpful to understand it is now, but it would not simply be provisional would it?

RG Well, it is something that we are going to enjoy eternally; not something that is going to pass away with time, and when the Lord comes for us we will be in the actuality of it. But now, by the Spirit, we can enjoy it. Then Paul’s heart opens out and he says, the God that has so blessed us that we might enjoy such purpose, is the God to whom we have access, through Christ by one Spirit to the Father.

JCG The greatness of the Father is emphasised in this reference that two divine Persons, the Lord and the Spirit assist us, and help us as we are taken in there by Christ for worship. Help us more about this matter.

RG Well, we are taken into the presence of the Father to experience what it is to be sons by adoption. These sons are all firstborn sons, that is the first thing; Christ the firstborn One stands out unique, through Christ by one Spirit we have access to the Father. I do not think it is a grudging access; it is an access that is waiting you might say. The folding doors typified in the temple are fully opened here, and that is our access to the Father.

RT We are home now here, are we not?

RG Yes, that is good. We are home now and where love is at home. I have heard you speaking about love being away from home and love being at home. This is where love is at home would you say?

‘Father, Thy love, the source of all,

Sweeter than all it gives,

Shines on us now without recall,

And lasts while Jesus lives’. (Hymn 26)

RT Having some touch of it at the Supper gives us energy and desire to take the moral road and make it more really true of us.

RG That is right. So you cannot imagine silent brothers at the Supper when you have come this road. Here is the Spirit, He is giving you the power, here is the Lord giving you the lead, and here is the Father with the doors open waiting to receive you. How could you be silent?

GAB The note to offences and sins reminds us of the fact that God is rich in mercy. That would apply in this chapter, but when you come to Ephesians 3 it is the riches of His glory there.

RG Yes, you are at the climax of what God has in mind for you. So that when we come to chapter 3 it says, “to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts”. Here we are empowered by His Spirit, Christ dwelling in our hearts. Could there be anything more wonderful?

JS I was thinking a little as you were speaking as to when Solomon completed the building, with the ark in its place. Then he turned his face, addressing the congregation, and he spoke about what God had spoken with His mouth, fulfilled it with His hand and come to the fulfilment of all the gracious counsels of God.

RG That is good. I was thinking about that because in that section it says, “the whole congregation of Israel stood”, 2 Chronicles 6: 3. We are sitting down together in chapter 2 of Ephesians, but when you come to Solomon there, he is in the spirit of worship (2 Chronicles 6: 12). Applying that to us, we are standing in the presence of the Lord Jesus, and that with a view to giving glory to God.

GCMcK The Father’s Spirit in Ephesians 3, His Spirit in the inner man—What would you say?

RG It is an interesting question. We think about the Lord’s Spirit, He has accomplished everything here for God in that way by the Spirit, but the Father’s Spirit covers the whole of the divine outlook. The Father retains the first place in the economy and His Spirit is available to us so that our responses to Him are intelligent. What do you think?

GCMcK The realm is obviously so exalted and glorious, every family is named, there is a great scope, “breadth and length and depth and height”, and love which surpasses knowledge. It would seem as if the Father’s Spirit especially has strengthened us to take in the realm, because of its greatness you might say. It is His realm in a way, is it?

RG I think so. I think it is the Father’s home, it is where love is. Mr Pellatt’s hymn helps, ‘And we shall share that home above’—the Father’s home (Hymn 144). This hymn is looking forward but it is to be a present experience.

DTP Strengthening brings you into the area of being rooted and founded in love. It is the Father’s sphere and the wealth of it has to imbue us with an outlet that finds it release in Christ.

RG And you are rooted and founded; it is good to be reminded of that; you are not moved about, you are founded; the architectural idea. You are rooted so that you are still in the full vigour of life. That is the purpose of God, secured in persons who are in the full vigour of life in response to Himself.

CKR Should it be an exercise with us then to be able to say more to the Father about Himself, and about His own operations and His own glory?

RG Yes, there is a balance. The saints at one time wanted to move on to the Father very quickly, and we had to be reminded that it was the Lord’s supper. But once the Lord has had His portion then we move into the presence of the Father and we should not be limited in our thoughts and expressions. If we have any experience of His presence we will want to express our appreciation of that experience.

CKR We go on from our own blessings to the greatness of what the Father Himself has secured, and what has been secured for His glory and for His pleasure; through the gift of sonship and the work of reconciliation.

RG Yes, that is right; and then you are able to go on and say, “But to him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think”—that is to God Himself—“to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus”, so you are moving in to God; you are moving from the fulness of the Father’s love into the greatness of the purpose of God.

Well, beloved brethren, the moral road we have followed is worthy of our consideration. Let there be a desire that we might keep moving on. The whole counsel of God has been made known to us. The purpose of God is there for us not only to enjoy, but to have part in, for His pleasure and His glory.

Reading at Kirkcaldy
31 January 2009

KEY TO INITIALS

T. D. Beveridge

R. Gardiner

D. T. Pye

D. C. Brown

G. B. Grant

C. K. Robinson

G. A. Brown

J. C. Gray

J. Spinks

J. A. Brown

J. D. Gray

J. Strachan

M. Cowan

G. C. McKay

R. Taylor